The members of the movement see the agency as a way of countering what they perceive as western bias in the reporting of the mainstream news media. As Malaysian information minister Zainuddin Maidin toldal-Jazeera:

Unless we do this, we shall continue to bemoan the fact that the so-called international media has not and will never give the fair coverage that is due to us.

But if the Non-aligned News Network wants to have the sort of respected voice that al-Jazeera has earned - and even al-Jazeera's attempts to launch an English-language channel have run into problems (registration required) - it's going to have to up its game.

For a global audience, the best picture of Non-Aligned countries still comes from the mainstream western media - take these reports on the Middle East published today, one on Reuters, the other in the Independent.

At the time of writing, the front page of the slightly clunky NNN site contained just the mix of government press releases, fawning over corrupt leaders and worthy but inconsequential pieces you'd expect from the media of a banana republic: "India condemns assassination of Sri Lankan general"; "Dubai property investment show now the world's largest"; "Zambia making progress on SADC target on women's role"; "Centam parliamentarian says MDG achievement lacking". The top photograph is of Malaysia's ex-prime minister Mahathir Mohamed shaking hands with Nursultan Nazarbayev to mark the publication of the Kazakh dictator's new book.

The NNN could be a golden opportunity to bring the talents of journalists across the world together to paint a better picture than we get from our own media. It would be a shame if it was to drift into the complacent subservience indicated by this crop of news.